Delicious Bytes: An Opera Thanksgiving!

Hi all!

Good to be back blogging! A new MacBook Pro *may* have inspired me into getting back to the bloggie! Yay for Black Friday sales, and craigslist for finding my old MacBook a new home and bringing the total cost of my new Pro to $600!

I'm all done with an opera production, and I really miss my music buddies! We spent an incredible 2 weeks working long days together singing, dancing, wearing pretty costumes, and LAUGHING. Big time. This group is so great- love you guys! I basically ate nothing but steamed veggies with spaghetti or rice, chicken, and the occasional salad/sandwich/soup from Au Bon Pain. I used to not be a fan, but it's really delicious now! The one over on Boylston Street in Boston's Back Bay was recently remodeled, and they even take your order with an iPad! Fanciness!

The best meal of the last couple weeks was of course on Thanksgiving. The Opera Gods gave us the entire day off from rehearsal, and I slept the morning away in total bliss. I spent the afternoon and evening with my good friends and we had a splended meal together!

Instead of a turkey (there were only 4 of us), we had roast chicken... and let me tell you, this was no ordinary roast chicken. We used Mark Bittman's recipe from his cookbook, How to Cook Everything. Mark Bittman writes a column, The Minimalist, for the New York Times, and I have to thank my friend Sari for introducing him (errrr.... his existence, not Mark HIMSELF) to me.

From the How to Cook Everything website, here are the basic instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 450°F. Five minutes after turning on the oven, put a cast-iron or other heavy ovenproof skillet on a rack set low in the oven. Rub the chicken with the olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and put the herb sprigs on it if you're using them.

2. When both oven and pan are hot, 10 or 15 minutes later, carefully put the chicken, breast side up, in the hot skillet; if you're using garlic, scatter it around the bird. Roast, undisturbed, for 40 to 50 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh registers 155–165°F. 3. Tip the pan to let the juices from the bird's cavity flow into the pan (if they are red, cook for another 5 minutes). Transfer the bird to a platter and let it rest; if you like, pour the pan juices into a clear measuring cup, then pour or spoon off some of the fat. Reheat the juices if necessary, quarter the bird (see the illustrations on page 685), garnish, and serve with the pan juices.

What I love about this recipe is the science behind it! Usually the problem with roasting a chicken is that the breast meat dries out while you are waiting for the dark meat to finish cooking- but Bittman solves this problem by cooking the chicken on a hot cast iron pan, instead of on a roasting rack! And, pre-heating the pan gets it good and hot (hello! 450 degrees!) so that the bottom of the chicken, where the dark meat is, is seared and cooks quickly to catch up to the white meat!

We took his advice on adding wine and garlic cloves to the pan as we added the chicken.

YUM! and Done in less than an hour!!

The mashed potatoes were another hit of the evening, thanks to the incredible POTATO RICER! :) Oooooooooooooooh, aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Hee hee.

The French really know how to cook... :) Bonjour, Jerome!

Other delicious sides included green beans with garlic and olive oil, sweet potatoes with pear and apple, stuffing (made by the folks over at Formaggio Kitchen), lovely rustic cranberry sauce from local cranberries from Cape Cod, and red wine pan gravy.

My happy plate:

Quite the beautiful table, don't you think?

After dinner, we received a text message from the neighbors next door who were deep-frying their turkey! We were invited over to see the big reveal! I've been dying to see this in person, especially after watching an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown acted out pretty much all the nightmare situations that can possibly arise. This MIT professor pretty much knew the drill, though. It was exciting!